


The Things That Live Below

by MagpieMorality



Series: The Creature Under The Bed [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Creature Remus, Friends to Lovers, Ghost Hunter Remy, Human Patton, Implied/Referenced Character Death, In a way, Injury, Janus as an unnamed godly deus ex machina, M/M, Minor Character Death, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Remile Sidepairing, Remy is NB but uses boyfriend to describe themself, Rescue Missions, Spooky, Spoopy beings, Transformation, Violence, eventual romantic relationship, human remus, slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23016316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieMorality/pseuds/MagpieMorality
Summary: A sequel to The Thing In The Woods.Remy has made a mistake, and now Patton is gone. Gone where? Gone how?And is Remus the only chance of getting him back?
Relationships: Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: The Creature Under The Bed [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654141
Comments: 96
Kudos: 108





	1. Wine and Witchery

**Author's Note:**

> From this prompt: 
> 
> in the intruality au where remus was the "monster"... what if patton somehow got imprisoned and remus went to save him?
> 
> Warning that this will be darker in tone than the first story, proceed with caution! Warnings will be on each chapter just to be sure!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy wants to play with demons, Patton is Not Convinced. The Yuke is just there for affection.

Remy and Patton had become fast friends in the few weeks since the Yuke had first been introduced into their lives.

It was an odd, intense friendship, where they hung out often, talking about things that other people just didn't understand. Remy's boyfriend Emile was a very lovely psychology grad TA, and he was slightly confused by but supportive of Remy's work. Patton hadn't managed to tell his friends about the creature in his apartment yet. He just knew how they would react and he wasn't sure he was ready for that. And they'd all been busy with work and stressed about various normal life things, so adding a supernatural creature into the mix would have been too much, he reasoned. He went round to theirs, and locked the Yuke in the bedroom with strict instructions and several pints of peanut butter on the rare occasions they'd drop by, thanking his luck that he lived further out than the rest and was the less convenient place to get to. 

But with Remy it was easy. They understood and they knew about the Yuke, and they had taken to using Patton's place as a fun place to experiment with new supernatural tricks, because just ghost-hunting wasn't quite as satisfying now that they knew there were demons and magical things actually out there in the world to explore. Tarot and Ouija had been thoroughly explored while the Yuke sniffed around curiously, but tonight they had different plans. 

"Come on, it'll be so much fun!" They plead, clasping their hands together under their chin. Patton sighed and twirled his glass of wine around, holding it out for the curious creature curled next to him on the couch to sniff at. It hissed and he pulled it back for another sip. "Please? I'll make it all spooky..."

"I'm not so sure it's a great idea, Rem," Patton replied, glancing at them. "I mean, we have an actual demon thing here. Ucodo, whatever. What if the spell thingy really does bring something bad to us?" 

Remy rolled their eyes. "It's not going to work like that, let alone _work_ , Patton. C'mon, I just want to play around, get a feel for it. You don't want me to do it alone, do you?" 

Patton thought carefully, absently patting the Yuke as it wormed it's head into his lap, eyes fixed on the TV, running some cooking show in the background. "Is it really safe? Like, really? Because you had nothing to go on for this lil' fella, so forgive me for wanting to be sure."

"Please," Remy scoffed. "Like I'd put you in real danger. Yukey-boy here would rip me to shreds if you got hurt and we both know it. No amount of peanut butter would stop that from happening. Look, if it helps, I'll set up all the wards, and we can just do it here in the living room so your Sir Night can look after you too. Like, c'mon babes, what more can I do to convince you?"

"You would owe me," Patton said, gesturing at Remy with the wine glass in warning. "Especially if things get out of hand. Deal?"

Remy whooped, throwing their arms up and startling the Yuke off the couch and into hiding. It peeked up over the back of the cushions and did its weird liquid slide over the cushions and into Patton's arms for reassurance. "Okay I take it back, that thing is not gonna protect you against shit. But hey, at least its looks should scare anything untoward off..." 

Patton laughed, and the Yuke just huffed and wriggled around, taking advantage of the soothing petting it was getting from its beloved human. 

"Okay you're on. When are we doing this, anyway?"

Remy's smile implied... oh no. "So, I might have banked on you saying yes and I maybe brought everything with me tonight, so... how about now?"


	2. Attempting Incantations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time to try out the spell. What could possibly go wrong?

As it turned out, magic was pretty disappointing. They'd got all set up, candles and sigils and chalk and everything (Remy really had come prepared, Patton noted with a soft whistle) and the atmosphere had been good. The Yuke, bless it's demonic heart- if it had one- started whining pretty loudly and Patton had had to shut it into the bedroom so they could get through the spell. It sat at the door and started to make a horrid scratchy sound in its throat but stayed put, and after a few minutes they managed to tune it out.

"So if you sit there, I'll sit here and we can hold hands and do the incantation!" Remy grinned, folding their legs under theirself and holding their hands out expectantly. Patton took them gingerly, sighing.

"You're sure this is a good idea, because Yukey really doesn't like this-"

Remy snorted. "Don't listen to that party pooper. Probably just hates candles or something. C'mon, you said you would!"

There was another second of hesitation, but Patton had agreed, and he was secretly curious to see what might happen. He hadn't taken in the Yuke because he was terrified of the supernatural, after all. With a decisive nod he took the ghost-hunter-slash-witch-in-training's hands, clasping them firmly. "Alright, let's do it."

The spell sounded weird, somehow muffled and getting quieter as the words flowed out of Remy's mouth smoothly. It wasn't English, and the strange dampened sound was probably something to do with the Yuke as always, but the incantation didn't seem to be having much effect other than being vaguely spooky. The candles didn't flare as they finished; and the chalk stayed undisturbed.

Even the Yuke was calm at last.

"Is that it?" Patton whispered loudly, but Remy hushed him, shaking their head. They said a few more odd words, squinting down at the chalk in between the two.

Still nothing. Mildly disappointing, but not wildly surprising, if Patton was honest. He'd thought maybe Remy would have figured out a way to make the room darken or to send the candles flickering, but perhaps magic really wasn't real and the Yuke was some odd quirk of science instead. Or perhaps Remy just wasn't a very good witch yet, because really they'd only just started, Patton shouldn't be so quick to judge right?

"I think that's it," Remy said in a hushed voice, breaking the quiet. They sounded understandably disappointed, given they'd apparently thought this might actually work, and Patton reminded himself to be sympathetic. "Really nothing, huh?"

At that the Yuke started to whine again from the bedroom and Patton pulled his hands away to go and let it out.

"Careful!" Remy hissed, knocking Patton's leg out of the way of a smudge of candle wax. "You'll make a mess! This has to be tidied up very specifically."

"Sorry," Patton winced. The Yuke slunk out slowly when he opened his bedroom door, sniffing all over Patton to thoroughly check up on him. It went nervously up to the sigils and the chalk and hissed at it all after a sniff there, retreating behind the couch. "Maybe it's the fire?" Patton wondered, blowing out a candle and holding in the Yuke's direction to test the theory, frowning when it only shuffled further back, eyes still fixed on the markings on the floor. Odd.

When everything was packed away again, Remy turned to head home. "I'll see you soon, alright? Come by the shop on the way home tomorrow, maybe, I've gotta let you meet Emile, he's still super confused who you are."

"It's a deal," Patton agreed, holding the door for them. "Get home safe!"

The door clicked shut behind his friend and he turned to start tidying up for the night, the Yuke sticking closer than usual to his heels as he padded around the apartment. "You're a little spooked, huh," he said to it, reaching down to pet its head. "That's okay, we'll close the door tonight and leave the curtains open, okay?"

It whined, bumping against his spine when he turned around and sitting at his feet while he brushed his teeth.

It even tried to climb onto the bed when he got in, reaching to turn the lights out, but he firmly told it off and it curled up, limbs folding a few too many times, on the floor by the bed. "Note to self, remember you're there if I get up in the night…" Patton muttered, smothering a yawn. "Goodnight, Yukey."

And just like every other night the apartment fell pleasantly, peacefully silent.

* * *

The next day dawned as usual, the alarm failing to go off out loud and Patton waking to the Yuke gently poking his cheek with a long, clawed finger. He rolled out of bed and got ready for work, heading off with a cheerful goodbye and a wave.

But he didn't come back.

The Yuke waited patiently until the time Patton would normally come back, and then a lot less patiently, sitting anxiously by the door and whining and whining in the hopes that it might encourage the door to open and reveal Patton there where he should be. It tried to rest, tried to pace it's nervous energy out, tried to turn the TV on and watch something (but it wasn't sure how to use the remotes yet so that ship sank before it sailed). Nothing worked, and then at _last_ there were quick footsteps coming up the staircase outside, running to the door.

But instead of Patton's key scraping in the lock, the door shuddered and shook under the force of someone banging on it, and Remy's terrified voice came from the other side.

"Let me in! It's Patton, you have to help, _he's gone_!"


	3. To The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy tries to explain and Remus gets started.

"Yuke! Ucodo! Yukey-boy, let me in! Please!" Remy begged, throwing themself against the door to Patton's apartment. From the other side there was scratching and whining, as the Yuke tried to help, until it growled a very unsettling two-tone growl and the lock sort of crunched and gave way, allowing Remy to stumble inside.

The Yuke stretched back into a form that didn't make Remy's brain hurt quite so much as whatever it had been to do whatever it had done to the door. "Oh thank fuck," Remy gasped, falling onto their knees. "It's Patton he's-" they choked down a sob and the Yuke shoved forwards into their space, making a soft whining noise, its already wide eyes somehow even wider. "He's gone somewhere!" They cried. "He was taken, I don't know what it was but it smelled like wet dog and it dragged him all the way down the goddamn street and then vanished into this old building! I-I couldn't get through the door, I don't think it was a real door, but it- Was it something to do with you? Was it like you?!"

The Yuke pressed forwards, half in their lap by that point, sharp clawed fingers digging into their jeans, still whirring in panic. Remy took a breath and tried to calm themself down enough to talk properly. Every second that they wasted with freaking out was another second Patton was _gone_.

God they hoped to whatever hell it'd come from that the Yuke understood what was going on.

"It was like shadows, and the door- I didn't see it open but I heard it shut? I think it's something you need to come and have a look at. Maybe you can go through, but- fuck I don't know. I don't _know_ what it was that took him, I don't know what I can do to help but I think you might!" They looked right into those odd eyes and saw something that may have been agreement. The Yuke skittered away towards the door, vanishing out quickly, and Remy's heart thumped once with hope, following hot on its heels.

"You think you can get to him?! Let's go then, let's go!"

* * *

The door when they reached it was just as Remy had left it; a heavy metal thing that looked rusted shut. It lay in an alleyway far too close to the utterly normal street, but the sounds of people cut off entirely as soon as they'd turned down to reach it. The warehouse it apparently led to was utterly dark and silent, with a few broken windows high up above them but no sign of habitation. If the human had been able to speak to Remus they would have found out that it was prime real estate for creatures like it, a dwelling not unlike its old home in the abandoned cabin, full of old energy and whispers and dark and shadow that nurtured and nourished all the beings like Remus. It held that echo of life that it and its kind craved and fed on, and it made Remus both hungry and nervous to be so near to such a large beacon.

As it was Remus just bared its teeth and sniffed the stone steps that led up to the door, steeling itself in case of attack. To Remus there was no heavy metal there but a howling, icy wind, drawing it nearer, luring it in. It didn't lead into the warehouse, but off somewhere else, providing a handy entrance and exit for travellers between the planes up out to the food source and back to safety, and it felt impossibly old. The plane that awaited was clearly similar to its own plane of origin from the way it tempted it, but undoubtedly not one any human should ever traverse. Which led to two uncomfortable realisations:

One; Remy could not come.

And two; it was odd that Patton had been able to be taken at all.

With its limited ability to communicate with humans, Remus tried to convey its plan. It would go through, find Patton and escape with him. Simple, but effective, but Remy just got more and more confused as it tried to explain before at last the ghost hunter just yelled, "let's go in and bring him back!" and Remus was able to nod enthusiastically in relief, glad to be over that communication hurdle. But when it turned to go and the human followed, it growled and pushed Remy away from the door with a hand until they frowned. "What does that mean? You don't want me to come?"

Remus snorted, shaking its head. That meant no, it knew, and Remy knew too because they scowled deeply. But who could argue with a demon telling you to stay behind? Remus watched until they apparently realised they had no choice but to trust it. "Fine. But Yuke, be quick? And be careful."

So it went, headfirst into the unknown doorway.

* * *

Remy watched the creature dive into the door, which honestly made their eyes hurt as the door seemed to warp and glitch while the creature was passing through it. They didn't see the way the shadows seemed to eat up the very body of the creature, tugging it in like a tasty meal and swallowing it down inside.

No, they didn't see that at all, fortunately. They settled in to wait and wonder exactly how much more intelligent the Yuke was than they'd previously understood, realising after the first ten minutes that they had no idea how long it would even take, and that they could easily be waiting there for… a very long time. With a resigned sigh they pulled out their phone to call Emile with the bad news and try and explain what was going on. 

It was pretty clear they wouldn't make it home in time for dinner that night.


	4. Meetings and Magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus makes headway in the Labyrinth, or does he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Implied/Referenced minor character death

Down, deep down, in the dangerous, dark world that writhed below the surface of the one Remy waited in above, Remus tumbled out of the chute and into a very different place than it had just left. It found itself on a hill of sorts, a higher spur of land (if it could even be called land) that gave the creature an excellent view of what lay ahead, and below. Shadows boiled at every edge of its vision, resolving into shapes only when looked at, revealing, when it squinted, a labyrinth of peril below the rocky hillside it had arrived on. 

It looked, Patton might have said had he been there to say it, like the maze from Goblet of Fire, only with less hedge and more... bone? Maybe? Certainly some of it seemed to glisten like white, polished bone, but other parts of the walls shrieked and squirmed and seemed vastly different, distinctly unhappy to have been formed into the crazy walls that made it up. It would be a harsh place for any creature to traverse, and Remus gulped in trepidation as the enormity of its task dawned on it, watching the odd light and dark and shadow and solid play out, taunting it gleefully with futility.

How could it possibly find Patton in all that? How could it fight off the things that prowled and preyed in that gloomy land, so different to the joyous brightness of Patton's world above?! Surely the human was _doomed_ -

But all of a sudden, there in the distance and not so far through the maze really; there was a glint of a light purer than any of the deep greens and purples and greys that had to be _other_ ; that had to be Patton. Something was taking him through the maze, winding slowly towards the centre of the labyrinth where the ground dipped into an inky blackness. It seemed to be a hole, could have been six foot across or six hundred, but it oozed a darker dark than the rest of the dark that filled this plane, drawing all light in to disappear forever. Something in Remus told it that if Patton reached that central point then all would be lost, and it squared what passed for shoulders in renewed determination. Its Patton would not be lost to some hungry thing in the dark! No thing that lived below would have Remus' beloved for its own if it had anything to say about it.

It made its way to the entrance and took the first step inside on what would be a long, unpleasant rescue mission.

* * *

It was exhausting just walking through the labyrinth. The very act of lifting a leg, swinging it forward and stabilising it to repeat the process sapped every bit of energy Remus had, leaving it running on sheer determination alone. It had twice the limbs to deal with too, loping desperately forwards on all fours and hoping it was going the right way. 

After a while it had to admit it wasn't entirely sure it was going the right way, and had to stop and try and sense out the direction Patton was in. The walls were too high to see over, and impossible to climb, even if it had wanted to get that close to them. But it had once come from a plane like this, and it knew the taste and tingle of the upper world. Surely if it just opened its old senses and felt around it would be able to tell where Patton was?

Worth a try. It stood still, melting formlessly over the path as it let go of the focus needed to maintain corporeality in favour of helping locate its lost human. 

Nothing came back for a while, not until it turned almost right around and then, something pinged. A weak signal, maybe far off or well concealed, but something to go on nonetheless. Remus shot off in as close to that direction as possible, speed brought back by renewed hope. 

It expected to be running for a while, with the weakness of the signal. It did not expect to turn the second corner and trip over something laying crumpled on the path, glowing faintly and groaning at the impact. 

Remus jumped back, on guard, as the thing groaned. It reached out a limb and prodded it carefully, approaching when it just stirred and groaned again. Not the smartest move, as the thing shot a hand out and grabbed it, pulling Remus down close to- was that a face?! 

"You smell of human love..." it rasped. "Why is such a thing down here?"

"What are you?" Remus countered, finding it all too easy to uncurl the thing's fingers and push it away. The thing laughed quietly, pushing up onto its side, half lying on the floor. It wasn't human, but it wore that shape, and then some. 

The thing blinked at Remus with exhausted eyes. "Dead," it said simply. "Or soon to be. Tricked and trapped down here away from all that is good. Hopeless and helpless. I just wanted to, to save..."

Remus's chest tugged as it slumped again, bowing its forehead to the floor. "I want to save someone too," it offered, and the thing looked up with a faint smile. 

"That's noble indeed, from such a strange one. You look like all the rest of the monsters down here, but you feel like a creature of light, like my kind. How can that be?" When Remus shrugged it tilted its head, reaching a hand out to touch what passed for a face for Remus. "You seek to save someone? Do you believe you can? Do you have hope?" It asked. 

The touch started to itch a little but Remus was distracted by replying, earnestly nodding. "My beloved will see sunlight again," it swore. The touch began to burn. 

"Good, good. You will need that. A focus, and a certainty. But perhaps a little extra help would not go amiss..."

"What are you doing?"

"Refusing to die for nothing."

The pain flared out across Remus's skin, and it found itself totally unable to move, stuck in place and trying not to scream. The thing just smiled grimly, as white light crept over Remus's vision bit by bit. 

At last, in the final moment before it could no longer see, the thing closed its eyes and smiled. "I feel... hope."

Then there was only pain and bright, burning light, and Remus had only a single thought left that it hoped this wouldn't kill it and leave Patton without chance of rescue, before the world vanished entirely. 


	5. Remus Remade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus comes back a little different than he'd once been...

Remus awoke to a different world than the one he'd left. It was brighter, more fierce, and it shone with a light he'd never in all his years seen before that illuminated the world in shades and colours he couldn't name.

He shook himself, blinking hard, and looked around, seeing the… wait. The _same_ walls, the _same_ floor. The same cloudy sky and darkness in the distance, not different at all but exactly as it had been but just viewed through a different lens or _different eyes_. The creature he'd come across was gone, but as he looked down to find it his mind fixed on two things. First; a pair of very human looking feet on the ground below him. And second; who was he calling " _he_ "?!

He- it should've been _it_ , why was he a _he_ now, how had that happened, why did it feel… not wrong? And those feet… he shuffled around to try and look at them further only to discover they were attached to legs. Which were attached to hips which were attached on and on up to _his head_. They were _his_ feet! And legs and hips and arms and fingers and toes and tongue and nose and hair and-

Remus doubled over, knees (his knees!) hitting the ground with a dull thud as he panted for breath through his new throat, drawing the foul air into his two lungs and feeling the burn when he tried to resist the reflex. He started to laugh, reaching up to feel his vocal chords buzz under his skin, before he moved his fingers tentatively higher to explore his face.

Was it a good face? He wasn't sure. He'd never had a face like it before. His form had always been fluid and uncertain and more practical than aesthetic; big eyes for capturing light in the dark, limbs designed to move every which way and quickly, hair to obscure the face, but all of those changeable at any moment. He hoped what he now felt under his fingertips was a good face, because everything felt permanent somehow, and he wanted- he wanted Patton to like it. He hoped it was a bit like Patton's, actually, because Patton had the best face of all the faces Remus had ever seen in his long years, and-

"Patton!" He croaked, coughing when his first words crawled out of a dry, newborn mouth. " _Patton_ ," he sighed after wetting his lips, tasting the word over and over again in as many ways as he could, shouting it loud and murmuring it close to his chest. His throat and lungs burned before long, raw and new and untested and he grinned wildly at the mundanity of the feeling. How glorious! How wonderful that he could let the air ring with his favourite word, proclaiming his adoration and love and worship in a way Patton could at last hear with his own ears!

And then he remembered just why he was saying Patton's name over and over in the first place. His head snapped up and he took a few unsteady steps in the direction he'd once been going down the path, speeding up as he figured out his balance and then of course nearly fell head over heels when he skidded to a shaky, uncoordinated halt. He couldn't just run off impulsively when he didn't actually know where Patton was, so he started casting around for signs of where his beloved could be. This new sight was strange but fantastic, cutting through the haze of unreality and darkness and setting the walls into stone and stark relief against the rest of the horizon. But the glow that had shown him the way to Patton… was nowhere to be seen.

Cursing loudly in his head Remus was forced to consider that perhaps he'd been going the wrong way entirely, when he'd followed what had turned out to be just the glow of the dying creature he'd stumbled across, and perhaps he had gone so far in the opposite direction that the light was lost to him now. Perhaps he'd lost his beloved entirely, with that detour, allowing whatever had the human to reach the dreaded dark centre before he could catch up and free Patton from this place. Perhaps Remus had been unconscious longer than he'd realised, despite coming to still standing in place, or perhaps this new sight was actually _worse_ and he would never be able to see the shine of Patton again and perhaps- 

Too many perhapses, he thought, whining softly and clutching the front of his head as it started to hurt inside. He was very briefly distracted by the startling softness of the hair that fell down and tickled the backs of his hands, but the pressing matter of _finding Patton_ pushed back insistently before he could waste too much precious time on yet another idle distraction.

"Patton," he whispered, closing his eyes (eyelids like these would take some getting used to, he decided) and trying not to despair, holding on to the clear image of the beautiful smiling man in his mind's eye. He would find him. He had to find him. "May as well walk," he added, out loud partially to make himself feel better and partially to test his voice out on some more words. It sounded rough, coarse and deeper than his previous noises. Maybe his lungs were big enough to make it that deep? He wasn't entirely sure how lungs actually worked but that seemed at least slightly logical. But that was just another distraction and time was limited. 

So Remus walked, hoping this was the right way, bare feet pressing quite pleasantly on the odd ground underneath. Sometimes it felt crunchy, sometimes solid and sometimes wet, but he didn't mind . It was novel to feel anything at all as actual, immediate sensation, and Remus had already decided he loved how sharp everything zinged through his senses. He was so different, so unbelievably different now. He just hoped Patton liked the change.

The reminder of Patton yet again surfacing to the front of his wild, busy thoughts made him speed his pace up, faster and faster until he was running flat out down the paths, taking turn after turn towards what he hoped was the centre, muscles stretching as they helped him dodge and turn and race through the labyrinth, eating up the distance with long, strong legs that he was delighted by and hugely grateful for, as they carried him swiftly onwards. It was just unfortunate that at the end of one turn the floor happened to be especially slippery, and that with his new and utterly stable form he couldn't just dig tendrils of himself into the ground to swerve his momentum and glide around without issue.

Instead as he hit the wet patch his feet slid helplessly along, arms pinwheeling to keep him upright. The terrible looking wall approached too fast in front of him and he yelped, arms up as he braced for impact.


	6. One Door Opens...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus can't afford any more delays, but what's he to do when yet another creature gets between him and Patton?!

Stuck. Remus was stuck _inside_ the wall. It was a weird turn of events, because walls were meant to be crashed _against_ , not stuck _in_ , but that was exactly the situation he found himself in. His legs and arms were stuck deep inside, held fast from where he'd been holding them out to brace himself. Nothing helped as he tried to dislodge himself, twitching and straining, and realising as he squirmed that he was steadily losing both energy and, more critically; _time_.

Patton couldn't afford to wait for his constant detours and mistakes. He had to hurry! He had to get free! Why couldn't he get free?!

Was it raining? Remus wondered, flicking his eyes up and finding the sky exactly as he'd last seen it. No rain fell onto his face but his cheeks were nonetheless damp with moisture. Was this crying? He'd learned about crying the first time Patton had watched a sad movie after Remus had moved in. The creature as it had been then had been concerned, pushing closer and whirring as Patton shook and hugged himself. It had been the first time they'd touched, in fact. Remus smiled at the realisation and the memory of Patton's hesitant fingers on his cheek. The way his beloved had blinked and breathed deeply, bravely feeling the weirdness of the creature's skin. And the way he'd _smiled_.

There was the crying again, and from his position stuck like a fly on a sticky tape Remus pushed his forehead against the wall. It stuck immediately, of course it did, and he just felt worse. He needed a way _out._

Suddenly there was the brush of fingers against his own, from within the wall. They were long and cool and they tickled, sliding slowly up and up until they curled around his elbows, just holding onto him. It occurred to Remus that this was probably the spider come to eat its trapped fly, but instead of give in to despair- he would _never_!- he renewed his struggling again, thinking of Patton Patton _Patton_ and how he needed Remus to _be free_!

"No! You won't have me! Let me go!" He howled, and the hands retreated slightly, then came back more forcefully, yanking and pulling him into the wall, deeper and deeper.

Remus kicked it, clawed at it, struggled wildly but he was dragged and dragged only to go sprawling onto a floor as he was finally pulled free of the wall with a grunt.

"Ouch," he hissed, lying there unmoving for a moment while he gathered his thoughts and figured out what exactly was happening in his body. Lots of things were complaining at him, and the pain wasn't exactly new but it was certainly different in this form. He groaned, pushing up with his spine to sit over his legs and check they were undamaged, but as he reached for the first ankle a shadow swept over him, and he froze still, remembering the thing that had caught him.

From his position on the floor Remus flicked his eyes quickly around, taking stock. He was sat at the bottom of a great stone dais, at the top of which was a large throne-like seat. The shadow had come from something moving around the top of what he could see was a dome-shaped room, obscuring and revealing the light coming from the hole at the very top as it traveled across the ceiling. It must have known he was there, unless it had absolutely no senses whatsoever, so there was no hope of trying to go unnoticed now. It felt less like a spider now though, with the way it so smoothly moved, coiling and flowing through the space.

With a gulp Remus pushed up onto unsteady feet. "Who are you?" He called, scratchy voice ringing out in the quiet. "Let me go!"

"It speaks…" came the reply. It was directly into his head, as with most creatures like he had once been. But now he could hear the sighing sound that it was making to human ears. Was that how he'd sounded to Patton? Perhaps something like it, at least. "What are you, bright light?"

"I'm not sure," Remus said honestly, instinctively answering despite his caution. "Are you planning to hurt me?"

The thing laughed, and the shadow kept on moving. "Should I?" It asked, and had it not sounded so oddly _curious_ Remus might have felt afraid. As it was he just shrugged, moving up onto the dais towards the throne and hoping there was an exit nearby.

"No. I'm just trying to save someone, that doesn't seem like a reason to be hurt."

"You have a point," the shadow agreed. "And you are already hurt. I suppose there's no need to anymore, now that the job is already done."

Remus nodded thoughtfully, eyes always moving to search for an escape, wagging a finger in the general direction of up, where the shadow still moved. "That's a good point too."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I am?"

"You are."

A shadow detached from the main mass, coiling darkness down behind the vast throne. It seemed small as Remus watched, getting larger and larger as it approached until he had to crane his head back to look at it. And then, abruptly, there was a creature stepping around the throne to sit in it, roughly his own size. It had a great many arms, or perhaps only a few that left vivid afterimages in the air as they moved, the hints of movement that was and had been and could be, faster than thought.

"So, bright light. What brings you here under the world that is?" The creature asked, looking at him with a big smile that threatened to take over its whole face. A face it didn't have. Okay, that was fine.

"Oh you know, rescue mission." Patton. Patton Patton Patton. "But I have to get out, I have to get moving, I can't delay any more!" Remus told it, keeping his attention on it as he turned to hobble down the steps and over to the wall he'd come through. He tested it with his hands but it was all one great carved wall and no matter how much he pressed the unfamiliar stone it didn't let him fall back through. The creature hummed behind him with what he hoped was sympathy and not amusement. "I need to get to Patton. Will you… let me go to him?"

"Patton won't be that way, bright light."

"Remus."

The creature faltered as Remus turned and faced it, brandishing his name proudly like a weapon. "Excuse me?"

"My name is Remus. What's yours?" Remus asked, swallowing the uncertainty that he was making the right choice.

There was silence for a long moment. "My… name? I haven't used one of those for many long ages. There is no need when there is no one around to use it." When it stood up Remus saw the chain for the first time, a stark thing with enormous links looming out of the back of the throne that wound up and around the creature's neck. "Once I was a god, bright light. Can you imagine? A protector of worlds, an eye over every doorway between here and there. I could look both ways at once, but as always things get greedy."

"Tell me about it," Remus sighed, thinking wistfully of all the empty peanut butter jars at Patton's apartment. Patton. He closed his eyes for a moment. "It's just so easy to want more," he croaked, leaning against the wall.

"… Indeed," it agreed, the eyes that weren't there narrowing slightly in confusion at the statement. "In any case, some things don't like closed doors. It's been so long, so long since I felt the call of a need for an open door like yours. And you did so need it."

"What?" Remus blinked. The creature didn't blink back, but the shadows grew and the chains clinked in warning. "You didn't take me to eat me?"

The creature burst into laughter. "Oh bless your little bizarre head, Remus-bright-light. No. You were calling for an escape, a way out. A door. More than that, I heard you even before, you need to get somewhere fast, correct?"

Remus nodded eagerly. "I do!"

"And I can help you." 

There had to be a catch.

He squinted at the creature, tilting his head carefully. "And why would you do that?" Remus checked, glancing at the heavy chains again. He didn't think he would be able to remove them, and he certainly couldn't take time to find a key. Patton couldn't wait that long, and once he'd rescued the human they would have to flee. Hanging around to help this god-creature was off the table, if that was the request.

The creature looked at him and narrowed the eyes it did not have. But this time it did have eyes, and as Remus looked the creature had always had eyes, and a nose, and a face. If he'd seen his own since his transformation he would know it matched his own, down to the freckles he didn't yet know he had. The arms settled into just two visible limbs, the after images vanishing in the space between one blink and the next. "You're going to escape this place. And when you do, you'll pass through a door, a very _important_ door, and you can call me out of these chains as I deserve. I have a judgement to wreak on more than a few things that have walked too freely for far too long, and I think you might want that too."

"You'll stop them coming through again?"

" _Ever_ again. I will close every door and block every exit so fast it echoes down the fabric of the planes, and then I will _laugh_ as those trapped wither and die, scrabbling and gasping and desperate to get through. It will be very unpleasant for them, I hope." The mouth turned up in a smile that had far too many sharp teeth.

That... could be a problem. Whatever he was now, Remus was sure he didn't belong entirely in the plane of humans. And if this god was to believed then when it closed the doors, whatever thread that still connected him to his old plane that allowed him to stay alive with Patton might be very abruptly cut off. How long he could last without that, he didn't know.

But if he didn't agree now then Patton would be just as trapped and dead soon enough and it would have all been for nothing. And really nothing was more important than saving Patton. Not even Remus himself. 

"It's a deal," he said decisively, marching up and onto the dais, holding a hand out. The creature's satisfied, rich laugh echoed and rolled around the room, joining the shadows and darkening them into a cloud of black over their heads. "Excellent," it purred, taking his hand and shaking it once. Then, without warning, it shoved him hard off the dais, sending him flying out before gravity pulled him down. 

And once again, instead of impact, he fell through what should've been solid and into darkness. 

Remus just sighed to himself as he fell. " _Get some new tricks_ ," he thought at the plane. " _This one is getting old_."

And, as everything inevitably and irritatingly went black; " _I'm coming Patton. I'm coming._ "


	7. Patton and The Pit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strange creature has dropped Remus somewhere. Is it where he needs to be? Will he find Patton at last?

If Remus never had to wake up from falling unconscious ever again it would be too soon. Could he just, sleep when people normally slept and not every few hours from some magic trick?!

When did people normally sleep? Was he people? Remus winced as his head throbbed, the existential questioning combining with the residue of magic in a distinctly unpleasant way. Or was that the impact?

He groaned, rolling over carefully to his hands and knees to push upright. This body wasn't as bouncy as the last, for all its improvements, and things ached that he didn't know could ache from hitting the floor.

On first glance he was in just another path of the maze, identical to every other, but when he turned around there was a turn that didn't look like the rest. Remus jogged towards it, gaining speed as his heartbeat followed suit, and there! It opened onto the dark pit he'd seen waiting in the centre of the maze from the start. The doorway-god had done it!

But where was Patton?

The pit was huge, the size of a large lake at least, and if the doorways-god had dropped him off on the wrong side then he'd never be able to stop them. Even as he watched Remus saw several creatures stalking the edge get snatched up by the writhing darkness as they tried to prey on the littler creatures drawn inextricably towards the centre. Patton and whatever had taken him could be anywhere around the edge.

The despair rose up again and threatened to overwhelm him, dragging him down in a great wave of _bad_ , until his eyes caught on something from the next path entrance. It was a light, or a lightness, slowly growing stronger as the source approached the end.

Remus didn't stop to think, lunging towards that entrance and throwing himself bodily into the oncoming creature. He barely had a moment to confirm that- finally!- Patton was _there, right there_ , tumbling out of its grip to the side, before the creature snapped back at him.

It threw him off as he twisted to evade what seemed to be teeth, but he landed squarely between it and the dark pit, standing tall and firmly in the way. If he'd had the focus to notice he would've seen the light that dripped from his own body, making the creature squint and rear back briefly. It was a hulking creature, doglike and mangled, not adhering to any rules of earthly biology.

"Come on then, beastie," Remus taunted, baring his teeth. He had nothing but his anger to fight the creature with but he wasn't going to let that stop him. 

With a four-layered hollow moaning sound it darted towards him, hands outstretched to grapple. Remus feinted, skidding a little on the ground and yelping as the thing's clawed arms raked over his front, its own changeable form creating feet that gripped through the muck underfoot to hold it steady. It rose up high, elongating with its prey trapped, but Remus wasn't going down easy. Not with Patton only just out of arms reach and beautiful as ever. 

He snarled back, human vocal chords making a noise louder than anything in this plane could hope to create. The creature flinched and shook, whipping its head around to shake the disturbance off as other creatures started their own strange noises of displeasure. 

Think, Remus snapped at himself. Find a way to end this quickly! 

The pit was the only chance he had to get the thing away so he could grab Patton and run, and hope that the doorways-god would be able to help. He had to- 

The creature came at him again, bulk growing so it could batter him backwards. Remus felt helpless under the onslaught, trying to dodge as many of the blows as possible, at least until the final realisation kicked in. 

Because as hard as the thing was hitting him, as sharp as the claws had been; he wasn't actually all that _hurt_. 

The creature seemed to realise the moment Remus did, and as he straightened and started to grin it shrank back. It turned, clearly intending to run away from this strange foe it couldn't defeat, this prey that wasn't prey, but Remus had other ideas. He let it get to the ledge of the pit and lashed out with a howl, shoving the pitiful, dreadful thing down into the darkness below. "Patton!" He shouted as his victory cry. 

Patton! Shit. 

Remus ran back to the crumpled form of his happy ending, crouching down by the dazed and barely-conscious human. "My dear," he murmured, stroking Patton's face reverently. It felt so different with his new fingers, and he lost a couple of sweet seconds learning the contours of his soft skin before remembering that time was flying by. 

"Let's get you out of here." 

Patton was light when he lifted him into his arms, carefully resting his cheek against his shoulder. The human blinked foggily at his saviour and gave a soft smile that Remus decided he would treasure forever. "Hello," the creature murmured. 

"'Lo," Patton replied. "Who're you?" 

He laughed once. "I'm Remus. I'm your Remus, your Yuke." 

The human's face scrunched up in confusion. "Yukey?"

"It's me, Patton, it's me! And I- I _love you,_ so much, that's why I came to save you! I have to get you out of here." Remus' legs had never felt stronger as he stepped back along the path away from the pit, gaining speed until he hit a steady, smooth stride that ate up the distance. The hill with the door awaited in the far distance but with Patton in his arms Remus knew he could make it. He could do anything. 

The human's eyes closed with an indistinct mutter and Remus felt his new heart, so full with warmth for the man he held, skip a beat. 

He could do the doing anything bit later. Right then he had only one priority; escape. 


	8. Deals, Decisions and Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is in sight, all that remains is to, you know, actually escape.

They ran. Or, more accurately, Remus ran and Patton stayed curled limply in his arms, cradled securely to his chest as his bare feet ate up the winding, disgusting corridor floors, eyes fixed inexorably on the faint image of the door on the hill in the distance. He didn't look when Patton stirred again, too focused on escaping. Remus couldn't afford to waste time or lose his footing or take a wrong turn, not now.

But pretty soon he didn't have a choice.

As they rounded yet another shadowy grey corner, skidding past walls that had begun to draw in and lean hungrily towards the human light source in his arms, Remus felt Patton twitch and jerk violently, nearly slipping entirely from his grip. He yelped, dropping to one knee to keep the human from dropping to the floor, and finally looked. Patton looked back, blinking up at him through hazy eyes, his muscles still trembling minutely. Remus frowned, concerned by the development, but even more so by the startling dimming of the light Patton had been so brightly giving off. What was wrong, was he dying?! Was he being drained dry of life like the creature that had gifted Remus his new shape with its dying strength?! Patton wheezed almost silently at him, trembling turning to bigger shivers that moved his whole body and made his teeth chatter sporadically, and Remus felt a horrible ripping sensation as a sob fled his chest.

"You'll be okay," he whispered, hoping to make the words true by saying them out loud, and leaning down, thinking to press a kiss to Patton's pale, cool forehead.

It was a shock when Patton whimpered and drew back in fear before he could get halfway. Why would he be scared of his Yu- ah, but of course he was too out of it to recognise Remus outside of the form the human plane had for so long imposed on him. Patton had only seen him once with his new soft skin and warm eyes, and a smile that wasn't full of needles instead of regular teeth, and even then Remus wasn't sure Patton remembered. He'd been pretty out of it.

He was even more so now.

"What, _who-_ " Patton croaked, visibly distressed. He tried to flinch away, but there was so little strength in him that he just sort of vaguely twitched again, stilling in fear. Remus could almost see his heart trying to pump fast like a frightened rabbit. If only he had time to explain, to comfort his sweetheart. But the door was waiting and on the horizon behind them the sort-of-sky was getting darker, in a way that did not fill Remus with confidence whatsoever.

"No time, Patton," Remus hushed him, gentle and sweet despite his own reluctance. He wanted to... but _there was no time_. "Trust me love, you just have to trust me. Let's get you out of here alright?" He slipped his arms more securely underneath the weakly protesting human, lifting him gently back up to his chest once again as Patton passed back out again, eyes fluttering closed but brow remaining pinched with panic. Remus sighed softly and rose on strong legs, picking up speed again and hurrying on and on along the winding route, hoping that they'd soon reach the door that awaited them. Where the doorways-god awaited them. Where _Remy_ awaited them, hopefully ready to take Patton safely home while Remus…

While Remus would know Patton was safe and could go on loving him dearly for the time he had left after the doorways between planes slammed shut forever. Which was really all that mattered now. Don't think about death, Remus, he told himself sternly. Now is not the time.

And they nearly reached their destination without incident, too, but their luck did not entirely hold. There wasn't much place for luck down here, and Remus should have known. The sky had been a warning after all.

Because as they finally cleared the last of the turns, leaving only a straight sprint down to the exit of the maze and then the winding path up to the door; darkness rose around them. At first it seemed to lap at Remus' ankles, like a rising tide, but soon it flooded up higher and swirled, roaring silently around and around until it was a tornado of deepest black, choking into his lungs and blinding his eyes until Remus was forced to crumble to the ground and tuck his body protectively over Patton to stop him from being ripped entirely away by the covetous dark, feeling the grasping grow stronger and stronger until Remus had to use all of his strength to hang onto the human, hoping he wasn't hurting him too much in his quest to save him yet again.

It seemed that the pit had come to get them.

Remus howled, pouring his fury and desperation and frustration out the only way this body knew how, fingers digging into Patton's soft, too-cold skin as he fought against the strength of the entire plane for his happy ending. "It's not fair!" He screamed, baring teeth that would never be pointed again, except for how they _were_. Clawing feet that would never be anything but soft again, _except for how they were_ , into the ground to gain enough purchase to move forwards, broad shoulders bracing into the silentloud dark force. "I saved him! Now we escape, that's the _rules!_ You can't change the rules!"

**Rules?** the darkness laughed, but also didn't. Remus' head hurt from the notsound of it. **It hungers, no rules- just eat.**

He damn near stomped his foot, scratching furrows in the ground as sharp claws curled down from his toes, the ones on the ends of his fingers helping him keep hold of Patton, digging into his clothes and yet never breaking the skin underneath. "You will _not_ eat him!"

The darkness swirled closer and closer, tightening around them even as Remus finally shoved one leg forwards, gaining a little ground and starting work on the next step. Patton was turning ice-cold, light almost so faded that Remus couldn't make him out in the darkness. His own light was only growing with his anger, shining down onto Patton through the all-encompassing darkness and burning out the shadow in his lungs so he could cough it free and breathe again, his gasping the only sound in the blanket of silent sound.

**No out, only in,** the darkness notsaid, but as Remus took a second step, snarling his victory at even that small amount of progress, it drew back away from the burning light of him and seemed to take a moment to think before coalescing into a wall in front of them both instead, blocking the exit off completely from wall to wall with black. There was no way out now but through, and Remus would be damned (well, more than a demonic creature could be, if that was even what he was anymore) if he wasn't going to rise to that challenge and defeat it. The stories said he could. The same stories that had given him Patton. He had to trust in that.

**No out, only in,** the darkness insisted again, solidifying further until the wall was so dark it seemed to not even be there. **You will feed it well for many long times. Such good taste, go down long and slow.**

"No! And honestly, _fuck you._ " Remus snarled, pulling Patton protectively close and preparing to… do something, probably something drastic. All he had to do was get Patton through the door. Everything after that was inconsequential at best, and an inconvenience at worst. Don't think about death.

The darkness seemed to consider that reply, perhaps confused by the unfamiliar phrase, but it didn't shift from its position. **Both together such a treat** **, light and dark and light and dark. You come in, it feeds. Rules.**

Maybe it was time to think about death, just a little bit, because if the darkness could _talk_ then it could be _bargained with_ , and if it could be _bargained with_ then Patton could be saved. It wanted food, which their light apparently offered in a way nothing else did. That would explain why Patton had been taken; the magic could have called something to him and his light would have been too tempting to ignore. But light _and_ dark- so they must have both. Remus with his original heritage and new whatever-he-was made sense, but Patton was only light, only human. The only thing Remus could think as he wracked his brains for understanding was that maybe his being around Patton so much had sort of, rubbed off on him, like an animal's scent. Maybe the traces of his energy only made the whole thing worse, made him more delicious for the thing that had taken him, maybe _that was how they'd taken Patton through the door_. Which made it... 

Remus' fault. Oh, Light above and Dark below; it was his fault. He should've known. The stories were right; a handsome prince got a happy ending. But Remus was far from that, and even the best monsters could only aspire to a noble sacrifice. Was he one of those? No! He'd saved Patton! He'd gone into this place with no thought for himself, in order to bring back the one true love of his life and ensure his continued survival. He'd changed, for Patton! He'd fought and would continue to fight, for Patton! There had to be a way, the stories said there was always a way, _especially_ when things looked darkest.

He wasn't sure what it was just yet, but a bargain and a sacrifice were the only plan he had, so he had to try. He had to. 

"Take me!" Remus begged, voice ragged, gazing down at the precious bundle he carried. Every single moment Patton wasn't back on his own plane he was losing more of himself, and now that the light was almost all gone Remus could feel him starting to waver around the edges, turning lighter and less solid in his arms. "Take me, let him go. He's not… he's not tasty anymore. He won't feed you, but I will."

**Both will feed it,** the darkness replied simply.

"I- I'll run! I'll hide, for as long as it takes before we aren't good for feeding anymore. I know secrets here, I could do it!"

**Bad for feeding? Then both will die. If light is gone then food is gone then you will go too.**

"Exactly! We'll, we'll die and you'll starve and never get to eat anything tasty at all, stuck with those damn dark scraps instead," Remus lied through his teeth. "But if you let him go then I'll stay, you can have all this yummy light and darkness, hm? Very yummy! That's what you want, right?"

He watched as the darkness mulled over the options, or at least that was what Remus assumed it was doing, starting to leech down and creep across the floor towards them, lapping slowly and curiously at his feet. Remus held his ground, fighting the urge to start backing away out of range as it tested (or maybe _tasted_ ) him. The seconds felt like hours, crawling by, sucking the last bits of life from Patton. Who, he saw suddenly, was watching him again, eyes barely open. Remus smiled weakly, hoping to offer a little comfort, but Patton just blinked and kept on staring. What did he see, Remus wondered? What was he thinking? He almost went to ask when the darkness did its notspeak again, bringing his attention rapidly back to the situation at hand and out of the spell of Patton's beautiful eyes.

**One will feed it,** was the reply. Remus nearly wept from the heady combination of relief and disbelief, knees locking to stop them from crumbling under the weight of the victory. Patton would live. Think about that, think about life. And _hurry._

The darkness shifted and parted into a narrow corridor, washing over Remus' head and shoulders as he passed through and pressing tight to his back to follow him closely once he was free of the maze, hurrying up the hill path to the door. He squirmed under the horrid attention, all the while trying to ensure Patton stayed away from it, just in case it changed its mind again. And then, at long, _long_ last, they were up on top and the door was _right there_ waiting. Maybe, Remus thought to himself, there was still a chance for them both to escape here. Maybe he could survive this and live to make amends, maybe he could still be the hero or the handsome prince. He'd made it this far, why did he have to be the monster anyway? If he could get through the door and call on the doorways-god then perhaps the plane would be closed off before the darkness could stop him. It seemed unlikely it could follow him far out of the portal into a different plane, but even if it did; if the door closed and it couldn't get back it would surely die, like any other creature marauding in a plane not its own. 

If the doorways-god was there. If the doorways-god was _fast_. He hoped it was. 

**One in, one out,** was the notorder from the darkness. When Remus looked back everything was black, every inch of his vision covered apart from the door and Patton, whose face was glowing from the light Remus was giving off, making him look ethereally beautiful and scarily pale. Remus had once lived in the darkness, afraid of the light, but all he could think then as he gazed at it was _no thanks_. Maybe he was more human than he'd realised. 

He took a steadying breath, silently praying that the darkness didn't suspect anything, and turned away, opening the door to that same howling wind that had greeted it from the other side what felt like so long ago. The real, actual noise that it made was a blessed change from the notsound of the darkness, but it was the light that spilled warmly out of the portal that really made him laugh in delight. Even the darkness pressing in on him from all sides couldn't scare off the instinctive comfort he took from seeing it, and even Patton opened his eyes when it gently fell across his face. How could he possibly get even _more_ beautiful? It should have been impossible, but Remus was staring at proof to the contrary. 

"Let's get you out of here," Remus murmured to him, not waiting for the darkness to reply before launching himself through the doorway with Patton with a cry of triumph, leaving the world of darkness below behind, ready to return to the world of light above that he'd grown so fond of. He felt the darkness grasp at his back and the wind howl louder around them, deafening and utterly wonderful, like music to his ears as he looked down again to the groggy, but stirring human he had finally saved. 

Light above and Darkness down below, he was beyond words. Remus's eyes would never get tired of seeing him. Patton was sunshine after a storm, a rainbow gliding through the sky and lighting up the hearts of all that saw it. He was the happy ending Remus would never get tired of living, no matter how that turned out to be for them both. He basked in the beauty and sweetness and good that Patton put into the world, blessed enough to be allowed to stay by his side in all things. His happy ending; his true love. The stories were right after all. 

The wind kept howling and the light grew and grew, the shape of a familiar door coming into view slowly as they fell forwards and somehow upwards.

"We're free, Patton, you're going to be okay. We're free!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is no longer being updated on Tumblr, which means most likely much faster updates on here as we barrel towards the end! Also this monster chapter takes us over 10k words, yay!


	9. Up, Up and Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the frying pan, into the fire. They've finally left the plane below behind, returning to the daylight where Remy waits.

Remy had been waiting for hours in the dirty alleyway. They'd had nothing to do apart from sit and fidget and fret and feel steadily guiltier and guiltier the more time passed without any sign of Patton's safe return. They'd barely managed to explain to Emile over the phone that there had been a problem, an accident of sorts, and that they would be back late if at all that evening. Emile had been understandably both confused and concerned by the admittedly subpar explanation (Remy hadn't exactly been calm and cohesive at the time), but despite Patton's absence elsewhere life went on and Emile couldn't just leave work early because his boyfriend's friend had been magicked away from reality somehow. It wasn't an excuse that would go far out in the so-called real world. 

So Remy had been sitting alone all day, ignoring the pangs of hunger that had showed up later on to hang around obstinately like an unwelcome guest, and trying to find something to do. Every time they opened their phone to play a game or browse the internet they abruptly remembered the fear on Patton's face as the… the _thing_ took him. And they remembered their own inability to help, despite all the pride they'd taken in their research on magic and monsters and things not quite _either_. They clicked their phone screen off and hugged themself a little tighter, only to repeat the cycle again a few minutes later when the silent, still waiting became too much again.

What was the use of them?! Had their crazy career all been for nothing? At least the Yuke had been able to follow through the portal thing, and thank fuck for it, honestly. They would take back every bad thing they'd ever thought or said about it if it brought Patton back safe and sound. God they hoped he would be okay...

"Hey, there you are!"

Emile's voice from down the alley made Remy's head snap up, and they'd burst into overwhelmed tears before he'd even reached them. Emile hurried up at the sight with a distressed noise, dropping the bag of takeout he'd brought beside them and wrapping them up in a warm, tight hug as Remy took full advantage of finally having someone else there to lean on for a moment. Maybe more than a moment, they thought to themself, feeling the stress release and drain away a little while Emile held them. "Things are that bad, huh?" Emile's soft voice murmured. Remy nodded against his chest, lifting their head to wipe their face clean. They let Emile take over when he gently lifting his sleeve up to silently offer, clutching at his jacket instead with a white-knuckled grip and focusing on trying not to be too gross. "There, all better. You sounded pretty bad on the phone, I thought some food and company might help. Took me a while to find you, and I'm so sorry I couldn't duck out early, but the food's still warm if you want some."

The tears started up again as Remy stared at their wonderful, brilliant boyfriend. They were so lucky to have him, right there, ready to lavish love and attention on them while Patton... "I- I can't! Patton's _gone_ and it's _my fault_ and I can't eat while he's _gone_ I just can't!" They wailed, grateful for Emile all over again when he just hummed sympathetically and wiped their face again.

"Not eating won't help, dear," Emile chided, always so damn kind even when he was telling them off. "You said someone else had gone after Patton? But you couldn't go with them?" Remy nodded, sniffling miserably at the reminder. "Then you've done as much as you can. You got help, now you gotta look after yourself too so you're ready for when he gets back. Right?"

"Right."

"So I brought you Indian, we can eat in the park round the co-"

"No, no I can't leave. I need to be here, by the door. I'll wait all night if I have to."

"The door?"

Remy tipped their head towards the door behind them. "That's where they went. I can't go through, but I can wait."

Emile's face was thoughtful and slightly skeptical as he looked over at the door, clearly holding back from asking for more details about the seemingly normal door Remy was guarding. He'd had almost two years to get used to Remy's odd life, after all, and though this was definitely odder than most things he'd faced in the past, it wasn't so hard to take it in his stride. Especially when his boyfriend was so clearly upset and serious about the whole situation. "Well, alright. We can sit here then. And when you've had plenty to eat- don't you dare argue with me dear- I'll run home and get some blankets, maybe my laptop, and we can wait overnight together, alright? I don't want you to be alone."

"God I love you so much," Remy sighed, leaning on him gratefully. "What about work tomorrow?"

His boyfriend just shrugged. "I'll have some more coffee than usual, it's not the end of the world. But uh, do you have any idea how long they'll be? Because you can't really wait in this alley for days, Rem. It's not going to help you help Patton, and you could get sick or arrested or mugged. Patton wouldn't want that, I'm sure."

"I-"

"Think about it." Emile pressed a kiss to their forehead. "For now; eat."

They ate in comfortable silence, pressed tightly together side by side on the steps to the door. In the distance passing traffic added a soft hum, the occasional voice of a passing pedestrian filtering down to them in snatches. But nothing from the door.

Emile left once he'd made sure Remy had eaten their fill, packing up the leftovers (he'd brought a _lot_ of food along with him) and leaving them with a parting kiss and a promise to be back soon with supplies for the night. It felt so much colder and quieter without him, even more than before he'd arrived. The small amount of comfort he'd brought was gone, leaving Remy alone. They shivered, pulling their jacket tighter around themself to ward off the chill, that they weren't sure was just from the weather.

And then, not ten minutes after Emile's departure, there was a _clang_ sound, metal on metal.

Remy bolted upright, dropping their phone absently and stepping backwards as the door began to shudder in it's frame, wind whistling out from the cracks along the edges and growing deafening in mere seconds. Their eyes widened. It had to be the Yuke and Patton coming back! It had to be! They didn't even think before stepping forwards, only to be abruptly flung backwards against the opposing wall when the door _slammed_ open with a loud crash.

A man stepped out of the portal.

The relief Remy felt was instantaneous, the roaring wind dying down to a faint whoosh of a stiff breeze from behind. The light of day forced the stranger to squint as he stumbled down the steps, Patton gasping in his arms, choking and gulping on air. The man knelt down quickly to set him down in his lap, brushing the hair off his face with a tenderness that made Remy all the more confused. Patton had gone into the portal with an evil demonic creature. Another such demonic creature- evilness debatable- had followed him in to retrieve him. Who was this guy?

They weren't the only one wondering, apparently.

"Who…?" Patton asked, voice trembling and hoarse. He sounded _terrible_. "Y-Yuke?" _Say what the fuck now_. The man just smiled and nodded, his face twisted up with love and what Remy could recognise (from their own emotional state) to be bone-deep relief. He kept his hand on Patton's face, thumb gently rubbing over a rapidly warming cheek, and sniffed as happy tears welled up in his eyes.

"It's me, Patton," he croaked back, sobbing once for breath as Remy watched, frozen in place. How? How could this be- "Your Yuke. _Yours_. My name is Remus, and I lo-"

Remy shifted, their foot scraping on the rough ground, and the Yuke- Remus? Easier to think of this guy as Remus than the Yuke actually - glanced up at them only briefly but the damage was done. Patton's attention was lost to Remy, turning to reach for them with a wordless cry. They hurried over to him, kneeling down beside the other two and catching Patton's weakly waving hands in their own to squeeze them, trying not to stare at Remus.

"You can speak?" they asked, maybe not the smartest nor most relevant question. Remus started to reply, a smile on his- admittedly not bad looking, what the hell- face, but was interrupted by a new sound from the open door. A groan that somehow made _no sound at all_ , although Remy's ears still throbbed painfully at the volume.

"No!" Remus shouted, looking back and laying Patton on the floor in a hurry as he started clawing at his neck, straining against something invisible that seemed to be trying to pull him back, like an unseen leash or chain. Without hesitating Remy took hold of his weak friend in Remus' stead, dragging him swiftly backwards as Remus was yanked back a foot towards the still open door, gurgling horribly at the pressure on his throat.

"Yuke?" Patton asked in a tiny voice, the haziness in his eyes clearing up quickly as adrenalin kicked in. "What's happening?!"

Remus clenched his jaw tight and Remy could see, genuinely see, the moment he decided to pretend everything was alright. His resignation made him seem older than them by many years, despite the relative youth of his features. "It's alright, my love. You're safe now!" He said fiercely, grinning blindingly bright once before he was yanked back again, flying into the doorway. 

Patton screamed and Remy shouted right along with him, but the wind rose up to its deafening roar again, blowing at incredible speed, immobilising them in place and forcing their eyes shut against it as they fought not to be thrown backwards. Patton was blown across the floor to the wall, curling into a ball to try and protect himself. It'll be over soon, Remy thought, but the wind didn't let up even for a moment.

There was nothing for it but to try to help. With great effort Remy peeled their eyes open, tears whipped out of the corners by the wind, to see Remus caught just inside the doorway, his own mouth open but the sound from it ripped away by the wind before it could reach them. His hands were clawing onto the door frame; literally clawing because now Remy looked they could see the sharpness of the ends of his fingers scoring marks into the metal. Had they been like that before? They couldn't remember. That wasn't relevant! What could they do?!

Above the noise of the wind, or perhaps below it, was that dreadful silent groan again, ringing through the ground into their bones until both Patton and Remy choked on sobs of pain. Remus seemed to be trying to say something when they next looked, peeling their eyes open again with a gasp.

It looked to be something like 'I or you', and then some garbled shapes Remy couldn't figure out, over and over again. The shout increased in intensity, visible on Remus' face as his eyes grew wilder and wilder with desperation until Remy could almost hear the words even above the incessant wall of noise.

The silent sound groaned out again and Remy got the distinct impression that it was _angry_. Remus' face twisted with terror and the force pulling on his neck must have increased because he stopped saying anything, mouth open to try and gulp for breath. Now that he was almost entirely in the portal Remy could see the faint outline of enormous chain links twisting around his throat, heavy and vicious looking.

Remus' resignation came back full force as their eyes locked. He twitched his head in a sombre nod before looking past Remy to Patton, and when Patton screamed Remy could've sworn they heard his heart shatter, as Remus'- as the Yuke's- hands lost their grip on the metal frame and he shot backwards.

He disappeared, swallowed by the portal.

No, _wait_. 

Remy blinked a few times and shook their head, trying to rid themself of the bright golden after-image of a wide, sharp-toothed smile burned onto the inside of their eyelids, trying to clear their ears in the wake of the sudden absence of sound, brain processing as fast as it could.

Because instead of the terrible doorway to… elsewhere; there was an open door and a dirty, dim warehouse interior clearly visible in front of them. And in that dirty, dim warehouse lay Remus, sprawled inside on the filthy concrete. Not gone, not gone?! Not gone at all!

Patton struggled upright using the wall, falling forwards into Remy as his legs shook on his first couple of steps towards the crumpled figure ahead. He nearly fell again he started forwards, until Remy got their bearings and slipped under his arm to help him hurry over to the stirring man's side. Patton fell down into Remus' open arms with a choked gasp, catching his still-unfamiliar face in his palms and gazing at him with soft eyes and an expression Remy couldn't read. They wondered if they were intruding suddenly, and stepped backwards to let the two talk. This time they would try not to interrupt the moment.

"Yu- Remus. You're my Remus?" Patton whispered with his gravel-rough voice. Remus nodded once, cupping a hand over one of Patton's on his cheek, the other arm coming up around Patton's waist to hold him steady and secure, and safe. "You look different."

Remus barked out a wet, shaky laugh, nodding again. "I do. It was a gift. So far it's permanent, I think," he replied. He pulled Patton's hand round to kiss his palm. "Do you like it?"

"It suits you. Oh! And you have freckles, just like me!" 

"What's freckles?"

From a few feet away Remy smiled. Patton must have done so too, because Remus immediately returned it tenfold.

"Is it over? Are we safe from… whatever it was? I don't really remember very much but I think there was something awful, and it wanted to eat me. And you, too, but you got us both out somehow. You... fought something? For me?"

A pause before Remus nodded this time. "I did. And the doorways-god closed the door. All doors, actually, so that nothing like me will ever be able to travel between planes again and hurt people. Those trapped without… without access to their home plane will die soon enough. You'll be safe, you'll _all_ be safe, forever."

"But," Patton frowned, and Remy frowned too, picking up on the same unspoken thing Patton had. "What's going to happen to _you_ , then?"

"Nothing I can't handle, my beloved Patton," Remus tried to soothe, but his hands chose that moment to shake slightly and he couldn't quite hide the flicker of sorrow and fear on his face. "I promise. This is worth it. You are so, _so_ worth it."

"Remus-"

"I won't hear otherwise, you can't change my mind," Remus insisted, his brown eyes steady and serious. Patton's eyebrows pinched together, eyes starting to glitter again. Remy got it, they really did, but they could still see the terror on Patton's face as the thing took him, and the same look on Remus' when the soundless thing had tried to pull him through. Even now a shudder of fear went zinging up his spine at the thought of all the other things like the Yuke that existed, just waiting out there to hurt them. And the certainty in the set of Remus' jaw spoke of satisfaction. 

That being said, if Remus was right and creatures like him would die without the doors open then he only had so much time left, and spending it arguing with a stubborn and emotionally overwhelmed Patton mourning a life not yet lost wouldn't be a whole lot of fun. 

They sighed and moved closer. "Pat, it's done," Remy interrupted, as gently as they could, crouching by the pair. "I'm guessing it's irreversible, so wasting time on arguing the point isn't very fair to Remus, is it."

"Remy is right, Patton. You will live, and that's the end of it. Please, let's just go _home_."

Patton sniffed loudly, but glancing between the two of them seemed enough to convince him to let it go and play pretend with Remus for a while. "And eat some peanut butter?" He offered in a small voice, a wavering smile trying hard on his lips.

"And eat some peanut butter," Remus agreed with a quiet laugh, shoulders relaxing. "And, if I may, I'd like to just hold you for a while."

His hopeful expression dropped when Patton frowned and shook his head, hard. " _No_ , this isn't right! I can't let you just die, not like this- it's not fair!" But Remus had already started shaking his head, cupping Patton's face to quiet his protests.

"It's not! But it is _fact_. And my sacrifice might save people in the future, as well as you. Please, let's go home. I want to see it with these eyes, walk it with these legs at least once. Maybe dance with you in the kitchen to your funny repetitive noises. Oh! And I always wondered how soft that blanket on your bed was to you. You seemed to love it so much! For me, my love, please, this is the only thing I would ask of you. And, perhaps-" he took a deep breath in, and squared his shoulders in determination, nerves written across his expressive face "-a farewell kiss? If you would indulge your Yuke." He tried what started as a cheeky, charming smile, but broke into a pained frown at the sob Patton bit down.

Remy stood up, ignoring the sting of their own tears. Patton was right, it really wasn't fair at all. But Remus deserved the end he longed for and from the way Patton was clinging to the man, he knew that too.

The pair on the ground shifted slowly to follow them. Patton was pressing his face to Remus' neck tightly and hanging on with a grip tight enough to rival the strength Remus had put into fighting the pull into the portal as Remus lifted him with ease. Remy forced themself not to listen as Remus murmured softly to the man in his arms, sweet words by their tone; trying to reassure and say all the things he hadn't been able to say as the Yuke, no doubt.

It left Remy longing for Emile again, and they winced when they saw their dropped phone on the ground. It was miraculously only cracked and not broken, working enough to shoot off a quick text asking their boyfriend to meet them at Patton's instead of back in the alley, and requesting any medical supplies they could think of in case Patton didn't have the right things at his apartment. He would need some time to recover, that was for sure, but Remy figured having Remus around to nurse him back to full health (for as long as he was still alive) would certainly help.

As they turned to glance back at the pair, several things happened almost too quick to see; The door flared to life the instant Remus stepped over the threshold, a wild, crackling gold flame covering him. He threw Patton bodily away out of harm to fall hard onto the ground, but was himself engulfed, shrieking in fury and denial in a way that didn't sound human to Remy's ears, eerily reminiscent of the strange noises the Yuke had once made.

And then he was gone, and the door was just a door, slamming firmly shut behind him with a clang. Remy ran back to the door to yank it open but it didn't go, and shouting Remus' name revealed a total and utter lack of the man, in or out of the warehouse.

Silence fell, and the only things breaking it were Patton's heaving sobs and Remy's own heavy breathing, accompanied by the faint echo of metal ringing after the slam. 

Remus was gone.


	10. Doors and Desperate Measures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many doorways are traveled through, and Remus isn't having much fun, even with the return of a not-exactly-familiar face.

When he finally stopped falling through the portal Remus was half out of his mind with agony and despair. He was more angry than anything else though (and more angry than he ever had been before, lit up with what felt like lava through his entire body), so when a voice spoke from close behind him why _wouldn't_ his first instinct be to turn and _hit it._

The doorways-god stumbled back and fell onto it's rear with a soft sounding thump, looking thoroughly surprised, an expression that both pleased and amused Remus. It suited it to look so wrong-footed, he thought to himself. And it was high time someone other than Remus got to see how it felt. "What," it asked slowly, making no move to get up again, "was that for, exactly?"

Remus barked out a short, sharp burst of incredulous laughter, his fists curling tighter at his sides. "You took me from him!" He snapped, stalking towards the creature on the floor. "After I finally won, after I got us _both_ out, you took me from him!" The god's domed room shone around them, splendid now instead of crumbling and saturated in shadow. It bathed them both in the golden light of a thousand shifting doorways, covering every inch of the curved wall that enclosed them. The doorways-god cleared its throat and sat up to lounge gracefully back against the dais steps, watching him warily as it pulled its clothes back into order.

"Actually I believe I saved you from the filth that took your dearly beloved in the first place, before it could suck you back down and eat you up over years of drawn out torture. After you fulfilled your part of our bargain I thought it only right to repay the favour when I noticed you floundering, after all. A life for a life."

"There is no life for me if it's not by his side!" Remus replied with a snarl, turning on his heel to try and find the door he'd been brought through. They all looked the same though; all locked shut so he couldn't escape, the light shining out of the edges of each taunting him with its nearness. Fine, pleading it was. "You have to send me back!" he said, rounding back on the doorways-god, eyes darting around as he tried to think on his feet for the best way to get himself out of here. The best way to appeal to the sensibilities of a creature vastly different from both the thing he had been and the human he was now. " _Please_ , if you want to repay me then _that's_ the way. You can do it, can't you?"

The doorways-god rolled its eyes and got up. It walked gracefully up to its throne, sitting neatly in place and steepling its fingers together. "Of course I can. But if you go back there you will die, eventually. I don't even know how long you'd have, and is a human really worth such a meaningless death?" It swept a hand around at the vast space around them with what it probably thought was a friendly smile that only served to make Remus' spine tingle with the instinctive sense of impending danger. "You could live for aeons here with me, be my right hand and companion, guard the doorways on the occasions I have to open them. You would do well, perhaps I could give you some place of your own to live in, where you could make a copy of him for yourself, Remus-bright-light. You have impressed me greatly so far, and I don't find myself eager to waste your potential."

Before it even finished Remus shook his head. "It would never be the same. He isn't my love because of the shape he wears, and his shape wouldn't be my beloved without him to wear it. A shadow with the most perfect copy of his face couldn't hold a candle to Patton. Please, I am _begging_ you. Send me back."

"No."

"No? No?!"

"I said, no! I have shut the doors and I will not open them again to let you sacrifice yourself to a dream. No, Remus. You must stay. And you will thank me for it in time, when he has faded from memory and you are living your truest, best life. It won't even take long, I can assure you. Maybe a decade or two, that's all."

"A decade!" That was unthinkable.

The doorways-god shrugged and sat back comfortably in the throne, that damned golden light twinkling gently all around until Remus couldn't stand it anymore and turned, throwing his fist into the nearest door. It shuddered and shifted, impact ringing out with a sonorous boom that echoed around, followed swiftly after by Remus' shout of desperation.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"If you try and keep me here I will be forced to fight my way out! I did it once before-"

"And you will not do so again!" The god shouted back. It stopped, voice turning soft again, expression beseeching rather than angry. "You only got out with my help, bright light. And you only _stayed_ out with my help."

Remus flung his arms wide, hating the way his eyes prickled from the overwhelming emotions trying to drown him in anguish. "And look where that got me! Right back where I started, apart from my beloved! Why will you not _listen?!_ "

"That is enough," the god replied coldly, standing up. It walked down towards him, cupping his chin in a vice-like grip that even his clawed fingers couldn't seem to fight off. "I _saved_ you. You will not go back there to die. It would be beyond ungrateful of me and I pay my debts. Let's hear no more of it."

"Pl-"

"I said that is _enough!_ " Remus found himself dropping heavily to the floor, sapped of energy. His body felt like a lead weight dragging him ever downwards.

But he couldn't give up. Even now Patton was out there somewhere waiting for him, and it should have been the selfless desire to stop Patton's worrying or keep him safe that lent the final reserves of energy back in a great last-ditch effort, but really it was more the selfish thought that he had _earned_ this. He was owed his life with Patton now, and he wanted it so desperately he would fight a god, any god, many gods! Just to get back to him.

He didn't howl as he got up, saving the breath for his one last chance, and while the doorways-god was turned away, thinking him downed; he ran, straight at the same door he'd hit, throwing his entire body and the whole strength of his spirit into it.

It splintered instantly and he rocketed through into a different world.

But not the right one. He fell to his hands and knees on a sandy shore of black salt, lit by the glowing of three red suns overhead. This wasn't where he wanted to be at all, this was worse, because now he had nowhere to go but back-

Only there was another door, a hill (why were they so often found on high points? Perhaps a strange quirk of being in a lower plane, that travelling required being higher up...) not too far in the distance topped by the familiar tall rectangle lines of light. It was better than no heading at all, Remus figured, setting off towards it, stumbling but determined. "Just need to find the right door. I'm coming Patton. I really hope I'm coming."

How long had he been travelling now? Hours? Days? Months? The planes and worlds warped and howled around him, blurring into one mass of Not The Right Place, his hair scratched as it grew long on his face and down his neck and his feet were blistered from overuse. What plane was this now? He'd passed through so many locked doors, bruised every inch of his gifted body as he battered through each one onto the next, searching for home.

And it was home, to him. The little apartment, the tiny bedroom with the cosy bed and all the stashed, empty peanut butter jars. The living room with the battered couches he wanted to feel with his new hands. The smile on Patton's face even when he was a terrifying demonic creature, the stuff of nightmares, stalking around behind him.

Patton's smile alone could have been his home, if he'd been allowed to live in it's warm glow, but no.

Well, not yet. Remus couldn't give in, so it was a not yet, bitterly clinging to hope that the next door would be the right place, that this time he would tumble into the alley, or perhaps just the right world, even if it was the wrong place. How hard could it be to cross a world once you were in it? No harder than travelling between them, surely.

" _You are so willing to die, bright light…_ "

The voice was a relatively new development. For the past however long, not since the beginning but again- marking time was beyond him- the voice had dogged his footsteps, sometimes accompanied by great golden eyes that watched and studied him.

" _It's not like any resilience I've seen before. Do you even know how long you've been walking?_ "

"Fuck off," he muttered, battling against a fierce wind to reach the next door, a beacon on the horizon drawing him nearer like a moth to a flame. 

"Remus."

This time the voice wasn't all encompassing and distant, thundering from the very sky, but nearby. Right behind him in fact.

He turned, dragging his head around with difficulty, looking at the doorways-god with baleful, exhausted eyes. "What? Come to try and take me back again? I'll find a way out, you see if I don't."

The god sighed, hands tucked into pockets it definitely hadn't had before. The whole outfit looked a lot more human in fact, as did the face, despite the glittering tiny doors decorating the left side. "I know you would. So no. Come to concede defeat, later than was right." It looked at him, a flash of guilt crossing its face before it smiled, faint and sad, and held a hand out.

Remus thought he was probably justified in looking at the offered appendage like it was a poisonous snake waiting to bite, and the god withdrew it with a rueful wince.

"What do you really want? Have you tired of my suffering already, am I no longer entertaining to you?" Remus snapped, finding a little fire left inside him to inject a shocking amount of bite into the words. The god shifted on its feet and dipped its head.

"I have come to realise the error of my decision. And to return you to your rightful place."

"If you think I'm going anywhere but-"

"Back to your beloved."

Even the wind fell quiet in the wake of that announcement. Remus blinked, rubbing his ears to clear the ringing from the sudden lack of sound. "What was that again?"

"I'm sending you home, Remus. With no conditions apart from a request for forgiveness, perhaps. I do not and cannot think it the right thing to do to send you to your end, but I was overzealous in believing it to be up to me at all. You deserve to choose your own path, even if it leads straight to death."

"Would you shut up about the death? Death happens! Humans die all the time!"

"And we do not."

"I am _not like you_."

The god sucked in a breath, its eyes looking over every inch of him. Remus got the impression it was seeing more than the surface.

"No," it admitted slowly, tone mixed with a hint of wonder. "You most certainly are not. Perhaps there is some hope for you there after all…" It sighed, stepping forwards to close the distance between them and laying a hand on Remus' shoulder, only resettling it when he initially flinched away. "He must be very special to warrant such devotion," it remarked, closing its eyes to concentrate.

"He is," Remus breathed, his lips lifting in a smile even from just the thought of Patton while his heart thumped a little harder. "You're- are you really letting me go? Sending me back? It's not a trick?" If his voice broke a little then it was heard by none but the two of them, at least.

The doorways-god just opened its eyes and smiled. "I may have to visit to see what all the fuss is about, some day."

Without looking Remus knew that there was a door behind him. He couldn't be grateful, not really, not when it was the god's fault he was in this situation in the first place, but he gave it a relieved nod anyway. And as he'd known, when he turned there it was, innocuously waiting. The doorknob was round and smooth and inviting, and the light spilling out from behind felt somehow more soothing than any other before it.

It clicked open easily, swinging smoothly out into the world beyond, and this time round there was no howling portal of wind.

Remus didn't glance back as he stepped through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This came out as what I am going to lovingly call a gorgeously rough, raw chapter. It was originally split in two but then I thought it just went well as one, and probably was well earned after the last chapter!! 
> 
> I don't want to put a number on it just in case but I think we're one or two chapters away from closing this story out!


	11. The Final Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus steps through the door. Will it be his last?

It felt a lot like a summoning when Remus first stepped out into the alleyway he had been grabbed from so long ago. Or was it just a few days that had passed? His legs jerked forwards unsteadily but with confidence like he'd been called by pure, unfettered magic back to Patton, guiding him to his destination.

The alley was empty and dark, the night sky hidden by city clouds overhead and the smell not exactly pleasant, but Remus could still have wept at the relief of just being _back_. What did it matter how long he'd been gone now that he was so close to where he wanted to be? Semantics! Victory was so near he could _taste_ it. He allowed himself the smallest of moments to rest, all the while his legs aching to keep going, leaning on the rough brick wall and absently feeling the texture with his human fingers before pressing on- the time for exploring the world anew would come after he'd seen his beloved once again.

Around him the city was mostly quiet, the tame nightlife providing only a faint buzz of occasional sound and movement around him or off in the distance as he walked. Always walking… When Remus got home he would first sleep for a week and then refuse to move from the couch (or the bed if Patton would allow it) as long as he could. And he would insist Patton stay too, so that he could learn and commit to memory the exact shape and sensation of having his love in his arms. In all honesty Remus was going to have a tough time letting Patton leave his sight ever again from the moment he got hold of him. Even the thought of it now made his head spin and his stomach twist unpleasantly, a panic zinging through his nerves that spurred him on to move a little faster.

And that wasn't the only thing he wanted to avoid thinking about, but the voice of the doorways-god was in his ears even then, fretting about his death, clucking its tongue at the waste of life. How long would he have? Was he going to make it home before his time ran out? 

Remus started to pick up the pace.

His memory of the route was foggy (he had been an entirely different creature when he'd walked it before after all, and he was relatively delirious this time round) but Remus wasn't about to let a little thing like that stop him. His feet thudded, one-two one-two, on and on down the sidewalks. And it was only when he got closer that he realised that the feeling of being summoned was actually more real than he'd initially thought; there was an insistent tug in his chest now, drawing him onward, faster and faster until he had gone from his already fairly swift, determined stride to a headlong dash down the street, aiming unerringly for the apartment block that hopefully held Patton, safely waiting for him.

Then; there! _There_ \- the building he wanted! He'd made it?! It didn't even feel _possible_ , but there he was; using his last reserves to race across the road to the door with whatever meagre energy he had left in his screaming, depleted muscles.

A taxi screamed past him with its horn blaring but he was too fast and too focused to care, flinging his entire body forwards, hitting the glass door to the lobby with a dull thump and crumpling down on the ground in front of it. It wouldn't open! Was it locked? Why wouldn't it _open_?! He whimpered, scrabbling at the immoveable handle. "Open- _please!_ " He begged hoarsely. "Please!"

Was it magic, fate answering his call, or just plain old coincidence that brought Remy to him just when he needed help? Remus croaked out the witch's name and tried weakly to bang on the door in order to get their attention as he saw them appear from the elevator inside the building and cross the lobby, looking down at their phone screen while they texted. They looked just the same as he remembered, hair longer perhaps but relatively unchanged, and to Remus' exhausted eyes there wasn't much difference between the witch walking towards him and the angels he'd seen on screen during his time in the old cabin in the woods. He banged again, just about keeping the noise up long enough to see them notice him and start to run forwards.

"Remus?!" They gasped, bursting out through the glass door. Oh, so it wasn't locked? "You're _alive?!_ "

Remus just grinned faintly back at them, leaning his cheek into their hand when they reached down to touch him with wide, horrified eyes, before suddenly gasping again and reaching for the phone they'd dropped on the floor next to him, sending off a furiously typed text. Remus didn't have time to try and ask about Patton before they began to lift him up to his feet to walk him inside. They only got halfway across the lobby towards the elevator before the doors dinged open.

Behind them was something that glowed so fiercely he could only see light even when he squinted, something that moved closer and closer, and when Remus flinched away from the painful brightness of it, shielding his eyes with a hand thrown up in front of his face, it drew back, maintaining a careful distance while still hovering nearby. Remus kept his eyes closed while they watered, leaning heavily on Remy who seemed to be talking to the light. Whatever they said it moved away and disappeared from view, leaving Remus both grateful and somehow simultaneously bereft.

Remy pulled Remus into the elevator, complaining gently about how heavy he was the whole way, not that Remus was able to process much of the very one-sided conversation by that point. They went up and up and then through corridors that blurred quickly into one long streak of grey until at least they reached the right door. Perhaps even the final door. 

And he whimpered, cringing away from it, remembering every single one of the myriad of doors he'd opened to yet another disappointment over the vast stretch of time that he'd spent walking.

Remy propped him carefully up with one arm so they could push the door open, and _gods_ how grateful Remus was not to have to do it himself. Hello lasting trauma, he thought, with a tiny, frantic giggle that made Remy look at him in alarm.

But the door was open. 

And there, inside the apartment, stood Patton.

He was still shining bright but no longer lit up like the sun and hard to look at, instead giving off the most comforting, warming glow Remus had ever had the pleasure of seeing. With a soft cry he bent down to catch hold of Remus as Remus folded like a puppet with his strings cut, unable to much else but smile at his beloved. They curled in towards each other, half in-half out of the apartment, straddling the doorway, until Remy lent a hand to help Remus finally, _finally_ , cross the threshold and be done with all the walking, all the searching, all the holding on to hope and the desperate dreaming that he'd be with Patton again. It was over, and Patton was here. He'd made it, and even if these were his last moments he couldn't regret them for a single second.

"You're okay," Remus sighed once they set him gently down on the bed, eyes bleary with tears that spilled over into a sob. He lifted a trembling hand, brushing Patton's equally wet cheek with his knuckles before his arm dropped back to his side and his eyes slipped closed. He could rest now.

He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this to this point! It's the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written, just purely because I love this idea and story and this version of the characters, so it's always a wonderful surprise to see other people enjoying it too! 
> 
> That being said, there will be one more chapter- an epilogue. It's about time Patton got his POV back again and I'll leave it up to him to close us out. See you then!


	12. Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One shared morning, in the not too distant future.

Patton hadn't woken up this warm in… well, ever since he could remember, really. He did have a vague memory of a winter holiday one year when he was a kid- at some point in the early morning before Patton had woken up, his father had put a fresh hot water bottle under the sheets and stoked the fire of the cabin they'd been staying in so he wouldn't wake to the chill of December in the remote countryside. But this morning's was a different type of heat, nothing like the distant flickers of firewood flames, but rather a blazing hot inferno radiating through his bones that somehow didn't remotely burn. He could feel it in his heart as much as his body in truth, and smiled to himself as consciousness properly dawned. 

The blazing hot inferno in question shifted around and grumbled nonsensically, wriggling in a tight roll until he was lying on his front instead of his side, arm getting stuck partway through the manoeuvre, slung awkwardly across Patton's chest. Remus made a delightfully funny noise as he settled again, forcing Patton to hurriedly muffle some reflexive giggles, and smushed his face firmly into the pillow, lips squashed out to towards Patton. It should have looked horrendous but Patton had never felt more fond of the man (well, that classification was still slightly uncertain, but it was what Remus had decided he was so it was what Patton would call him) asleep beside him.

"Good morning," he whispered after another moment spent gazing (which sounded so much better than staring although the latter was probably more accurate), moving himself so he could press the tip of his nose to Remus' visible cheek and breathe him in for a moment, closing his eyes with a silent prayer of gratitude to the mysterious figure Remus claimed (eventually, after a significant amount of delicate probing to get around Remus' tendency to just sort of flap a hand at the whole story instead of properly explaining) had sent him back home. To Patton. To their bed, and his arms, and his heart. 

When Patton opened his eyes again and pulled back a few inches across the pillow he found Remus looking back at him, face crinkling with his never-not-breathtaking smile. "Mornin'," Remus croaked back, half muffled by the pillow under his face. "Y'starin' n'a me?" 

Patton huffed a soft chuff of laughter out of his nose and shrugged a shoulder, propping himself up on his side with his cheek on his knuckles. "Maybe. You can't prove anything." 

"I was sleeping," Remus said with a yawn, lifting his head (Patton shouldn't have found the little drool spot he left behind on the pillowcase so endearing but there they were and he just _couldn't help it_ okay he was in _love_ ) and rolling over again, onto his side to mirror Patton as he woke up. The arm tossed across Patton's torso wound more firmly around him, fingers flexing and gently rubbing over the warm cotton t-shirt covering Patton's back. Remus used it as leverage to scoot himself a little closer and press shamelessly against the bed's other occupant, nudging their ankles into crossing under the sheets. 

"You were," Patton agreed. "How was it?"

With his pursed his lips thoughtfully, Remus squirmed and took stock of himself. He nodded firmly after a moment Patton spent patiently watching and waiting, blinding smile back at full force. "It was good. I like this part best though, waking up with you. I slept long today, didn't I?"

The mumbles of early morning conversation in bed continued, unhurried thanks to the weekend not pulling Patton away to work for once. It was still such a treasure for them both to spend the time just _talking_ together, eyes and fingers drinking in the presence of one thought forever lost, twined together like two parts of a whole. Remy had only held off complaining about the frankly shocking amounts of PDA on the first two occasions they'd visited post-Remus' return. After that, they'd announced, it would be fair game. And it had been- for someone in a relationship of their own Remy had played the disgusted friend role incredibly well, though unfortunately it had only ever egged on the lovebirds. Remus in particular had found Remy's antics downright hilarious and had thrown himself enthusiastically into taunting retorts out of them by getting as sappy as possible with Patton whenever they were around. 

It hadn't surprised Patton how well the witch and the ex-creature-turned-man had got along since Remus had come back with a voice and a face that was a lot easier to look at. And that was _literally_ easier, not in an attractiveness way but in a 'my eyes and brain aren't trying to make sense of an image that isn't physically possible or logical and it hurts to conceive' way. As well as the bitching about their excessive cuteness, the general snark Remy liked to inject into every conversation entertained Remus endlessly (at least once he'd learned what sarcasm was), and Patton was only thankful that his new life-partner had yet to actually pick up on Remy's way of talking for himself. For now Remus seemed to prefer copying the enthusiastic and straight-shooting way Patton himself talked, free of the frills and misdirections of sarcasm, metaphors, or other such untruths of speech. Or perhaps that was just how Remus was, and always had been, and it was just that he fit Patton so well it felt like it had to be deliberate.

Either way, Remus adored Remy so much by this point that Patton would have been jealous had Remus been any less effusive and obvious about just how much and how wholly he loved Patton. And _boy_ was he effusive and obvious. He kept calling Patton his 'beloved' (and Patton returned the favour because 'boyfriend' just felt too small for what they were to each other), refusing to be parted from his side wherever possible, snuggling up like a cat as soon as Patton sat or lay down somewhere, and treating the human to regular and unfiltered commentary on his feelings as he discovered new ways to do so, in the depths of night as they shared the cosy covers of Patton's bed. Now, Patton had always known _he_ was a romantic, but Remus had him beat easily. And he wasn't even doing it to _be_ romantic- that was just how Remus was! 

As the morning dragged itself on, so Patton dragged Remus out of their bed and onto the couch, mostly with the promise of peanut butter pancakes and Saturday morning TV. He hummed as he cooked, listening to Remus muttering under his breath as he sat, transfixed, staring at whatever show was on. He liked to repeat the lines and conversations, figuring out pronunciations of things he hadn't read before or just enjoying the way certain sounds felt in his mouth. Logan had mentioned the behaviour could be a stim when they'd been on the subject once a few years back. So now whenever he heard his beloved over-exaggerating words and stretching the vowels out around his tongue he'd smile to himself, knowing Remus was enjoying himself. Sure, at some point all the romantic, honeymoon period bliss would have to settle down and they'd have to figure out how to integrate Remus into the world in a more concrete way (how exactly _did_ you get an ex-demonic creature a social security number after he turned human, anyway?), and the rest of Patton's friends had yet to be introduced to his mysterious and sudden romantic roomie, which Patton felt slightly guilty about. When he wasn't reveling in the honeymoon period they were enjoying, of course, and he would get around to it eventually, definitely... soon? For now it was easy to use the excuse that Remus wasn't ready for more people yet, especially not people who knew nothing about the whole world of weirdness Remus (and indeed kinda Patton? And Remy?) was from.

But while it lasted Patton was more than happy to bask in their little Happy Ending. 

"Hey," Remus called. Patton turned from his absent-minded flipping of pancakes to see Remus hanging over the back of the couch, grinning at him. "I love you!" He blew a kiss towards Patton, a little clumsily (having probably just seen it on TV). Patton pretended to catch it and press it to his cheek, getting the same brilliant smile of unfiltered joy back from Remus as always and feeling his heart skip and tumble, as always. 

"I love you too," he replied, weak at the knees before the sizzle of the pan brought him back to the present. "More than you love peanut butter pancakes."

"Impossible!" Remus chirped, cackling at his own funny answer before turning abruptly serious and jumping over the couch to hurry up to Patton's side, hugging him and nuzzling his face. "No, no I believe you," he murmured, clearly a little concerned that Patton wouldn't realise he was joking. "You love me a whole lot. More than peanut butter pancakes and air-kisses and going to work!"

With the smell of cooking breakfast and the soft, distant sound of the TV surrounding them in domesticity, the apartment felt like a slice of pure heaven. Remus' arms tightened as Patton nuzzled back, running his nose along the soft curve of his beloved partner's cheekbone to bring their lips sweetly together. 

"I do indeed, my love. I do indeed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go :)
> 
> Oneshots may follow on tumblr request, I have one lined up for when my burnout is finished throwing its weight around!


End file.
